Gohan Reborn
by BrolyFTMFW
Summary: If only Gohan had decided to search for greatness instead of accepting his mother's backward beliefs....
1. Introduction

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, so I'm sure it is pretty rough. Any feedback would be gratefully accepted.

"A proton is accelerated in a magnetic field of 3 Teslas with a velocity of 3200000 m/s as shown in the diagram. Determine the magnitude and direction of the force exerted on the proton."

Gohan took this moment to slam his book shut. Magnetism was his least favorite part of Physics, and he favored Chemistry better anyway. Glancing at his clock, he saw that it was almost midnight and decided to call it a night. "Until tomorrow…" Gohan fell onto his bed as these words escaped his lips, and eventually dosed off.

As he lay in bed the next morning for a few moments, Gohan started to wonder what he wanted to do with his life. He had little time to train; Chi-Chi and Goten made sure of that. All he could do was play with his 3 year old brother, help out around the house, or study.

"I'm getting tired of this lifestyle," Gohan thought to himself as he got up to take a bath. "I haven't had any fun since I beat Cell… nothing beats turning into Super Saiyan 2. Even Dad couldn't do that!"

That was when he felt the pang of guilt. If it weren't for his arrogance, Goku wouldn't have had to sacrifice his life to save the Earth from Cell's self-destruction.

"It's all my fault…" Gohan hung his head in shame and then went back to his life.

Later that night, Gohan continued to ponder over the thoughts he had earlier this morning.

"I am the world's strongest fighter. I shouldn't have to remain stuck to a small house on Mt. Frypan!" he gnarled. "Dad's not even here…that leaves Piccolo"

_Nappa was right in front of him. This was it; only 6 years old and he was about to die at the hands of an alien. As Nappa's blast was about to rip him to shreds, someone else jumped in the way…Mr. Piccolo. Letting out a blood-curling scream, he let the energy consume him. It was the ultimate sacrifice; Piccolo had only known him for a year, and yet he took his own life away to let his pupil live._

"Gohan, dinner's ready!" ChiChi yelled from the kitchen.

Gohan snapped back to reality. This was it; he needed to get back in touch with Piccolo, his original master and his longtime friend. He needed to train with the Super Namek who became a second father to him after all the battles they had fought together.

Gohan had 5 – 6 helpings of chicken and a few glasses of water "What's up with you Gohan? Are you on a new diet?"

"No mom, I'm just not in the mood to eat," he replied.

"Well can you watch over Goten for a little while?"

"Sure, mom" he reluctantly complied.

"Ouch, Goten that hurts!" Gohan was trying to get pull Goten off of his hair "Gohan funny!" It took 30 minutes to control Goten and put him to sleep.

"Mom, I'm going to see Piccolo now"

"No you are not. You need to go back to your studies."

"But I haven't seen him in—"

"NO GOHAN AND THAT IS FINAL. NOW GO TO YOUR ROOM NOW"

A defeated Gohan went back upstairs to his room.

"Why do I let her treat me like this? She has always been too overprotective of me. I don't care if she's scared to lose me because first of all, no one can beat me and second of all, she's trying to turn me into her pet. I can't stand her anymore!" And with that, Gohan blasted out of his window to return to his mentor.

Somewhere in the forests, a person was hovering in midair, meditating with his eyes closed. Only this wasn't a human. It had antennae protruding from its head, brown shoes and purple robes which were not in style anywhere on the planet, and a weighted vest and turban. No, this was no human, it was the Super Namek known as Piccolo. And all of a sudden his eyes opened to see the boy who had changed his life in the past decade.

"Hey Piccolo! Long time no see!" the half-saiyan exclaimed.

"Hey Gohan, what brings you here?" Piccolo replied with his usual rumbling voice.

"I wanted to make you an offer you can't refuse" said Gohan.

"Well?"

"I want to train with you Piccolo. But not only that, I want to be more like you. I find myself sounding very immature at times, and until recently my squeaky voice exemplified my lack of growth. I want to become wiser and disciplined with your help. I know saiyans and nameks are opposites when it comes to how much they eat, but I am willing to change. If you take me under your wing once again, we will be the most powerful and intimidating fighters in the universe"

Piccolo's eyes widened with shock "What?! You want to train with me?" The shocked experssion turned into a smile. "Heh. you're too powerful for me. You're in a league of your own. Besides, I prefer to fly solo."

It was Gohan's time to smirk "Nah, we can use the dragonballs to make you Earth's strongest warrior, even if it takes both wishes. Besides, can't you make an exception for your best friend?"

"This really goes against my routine…since it's you kid, I'll make an exception" Piccolo gave a pure-hearted grin, something he rarely did. "Wait, what about your mother? She isn't too fond of me as you know"

"Don't worry," Gohan replied. "If my mom can't accept you for who you are, then I'll have to choose between you and her, and I think I know who the choice would be…" And with that, he sped off back to the 439 Mountains area.

"You can't be serious!" Piccolo thought, gritting his teeth.


	2. Gohan's Decision

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. I don't want to have to put this on every chapter, so I am going to say it goes for all chapters: I don't own or have any affiliation with Toei Animation or Akira Toriyama, so every chapter I put in this fanfic is all…fiction.

Gohan made it back inside his room without being detected. However, something wasn't right… his door was open….

"GOHAN WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Chi-Chi came barging through with an expression of livid anger.

"Sorry Mom I was just talking to Piccolo and asked him some questions like –"

"LIKE WHAT?! ABOUT TRAINING?! N-O GOHAN, YOUR FIGHTING DAYS ARE OVER" Chi-Chi stopped yelling, and sighed sadly "I can't bear the thought of losing two of my men. Losing Goku was hard enough, but losing you would push me over the edge."

Any sympathy he had for his mother dissipated rather quickly.

"How will I get killed if I'm only training and I'm the world's strongest being? I can always train for 6 hours a day. That leaves 18 hours to sleep, look after Goten, and study."

"Look, I don't want you leaving the house without my permission" Chi-Chi replied.

"I get it. You don't trust Piccolo right? You still think he's evil don't you? There's no use denying it" Gohan replied, in a rather testy tone. This inflamed Chi-Chi even more.

"THAT GREEN GOOD-FOR-NOTHING IS NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR FAMILY"

"No mother! I can't have you disrespect my mentor like that. What good is a family if its not even intact for more than a few months at a time?" Gohan had lost his patience and was rapidly losing his temper.

"Why you – how DARE YOU???" Chi-chi raised her hand to slap him. Gohan was confident that she would put her hand down, but she continued and made contact with his face.

Normally, Gohan would feel humiliated for talking back to his mother and put his head down after a fresh hit to his cheek. Today was not a normal day, and Gohan clenched his fists and felt a hidden rage well up inside of him. All of his kindness towards his mother had been forced for the last three years, and now he felt the hatred consume him.

While he still had some control left, he shed a single tear for his mother and blasted through the open window.

After flying for a few miles, he finally let his anger out/

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" His ki instantly flared and he turned into a Super Saiyan. The anger still consumed him and he ascended to Super Saiyan 2. His golden aura jutted out at least two feet from his body, and sparks of electricity covered much of his body, which now had increased muscle mass. His hair had grown slightly longer and stuck straight up, with a bang of hair resting against his forehead.

As he finally came to his senses, Gohan realized he was no longer sad. This was the beginning of a new life. Changes were going to be made, and Gohan would live his life the way he wanted, free of anyone else's demands. A smile spread over his lips, and with a burst of ki he flew off to meet Piccolo.

When he arrived at Piccolo's spot, he saw that the Namek was actually standing in the air with folded arms. "Back so soon?" he asked.

"Yes, and now we can train for as long as we wont. I don't think I'll be returning to my 'home' anytime soon, if you can even call it that" Gohan was still smirking

"What?! Where are you going to live?" Piccolo did not expect this at all.

"I don't know, " replied Gohan "I'll probably have to make some money first if I want to get a residence in city. The next martial arts tournament is in four months, so until then I guess I will get used to sleeping on dirt."

"Gohan I don't know what to say. Your mother needs you, why aren't you going back?"

Gohan sighed. "Because, Piccolo, you're the only person I trust. You have the proper disposition of a fighter, and you aren't crazy like Chi-Chi"

"Did you just refer to your mom by her name?!" Piccolo could not understand what was happening.

"I have no mother, no father, no brother, no family…I have no loyalties to anyone now. I'm a new person, and I intend to change. My only loyalties are to the people who have helped me grow as a person since my early childhood…the Nameks"

"What is wrong with you? You live on planet EARTH!" Piccolo thought.

"Yes, it may seem ironic enough. We both know how important you have been to my life, and Dende was the first friend I made on Namek. Now that he is guardian of the Earth, it is clear he has the Earth's best interests at heart. Most other Nameks are good-willed and easy to talk to, unlike the obstinate and arrogant idiots running planet Earth. Of course, it doesn't hurt that you are the creators of the dragonballs either."

For once Piccolo found himself trying to take everything in.

"Once I learn Instant Transmission I'll be able to visit every now and then"

"WHAT?" the last comment caught Piccolo completely off-guard. "Only your father knows that technique!"

"You mean Goku? Yes, but he learned it from the people at planet Yardrat. I need Bulma to give me the coordinates for Yardrat as well as a spaceship…however this may need some time as Vegeta will probably mess something up. Until then, we have to find the dragonballs. We have to go to Capsule Corp in the morning to get the radar."

"Fine, let's do that tomorrow. But before you go to sleep, can you tell me why you decided to abandon your family?"

"Surely….Chi-Chi personally attacked you, and I had to defend you because you're the only person whose words I still listen to."

Unable to control Super Saiyan 2, he powered down and his hair reverted to black. "Damn, it's been a while since I took it to that level. I'm gonna have to work on sustaining Super Saiyan 2 the way I sustained my regular Super Saiyan form before the Cell Games. Goodnight Piccolo." And with that he let himself fall asleep crash to the soft grass.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing, kid."


	3. Piccolo's Power

At around noon, the demi-saiyan and the Namek flew off to Capsule Corp. to retrieve the dragon radar.

Gohan knocked on the door and to his chagrin, Vegeta answered. "What do you want brat?" the Prince asked in his arrogant tone.

"I want to see the Princess you idiot," Gohan coolly replied. Piccolo was shocked by Gohan's retort. He usually had better manners.

"Don't talk like that to me boy! Who do you think you are?!"

"Oh, just someone who's much stronger than you." Gohan smirked. He suddenly dropped the face and became serious. "Now stop this, let me speak to Bulma please."

"HOW DARE –"

"Vegeta, calm down or I'll shut off your gravity room for good," came a voice from behind the Prince, who sulked away and back to the gravity room he cherished.

"Hey Gohan…Piccolo, what are you doing here?" Bulma had rarely seen Piccolo leave his training except to fight in battles.

"Don't mind me, I'm just here for the ride," Piccolo replied.

"Huh?" Bulma was still confused. Not wanting to let this talk carry any further Gohan said, "Bulma, don't worry, we just need the Dragon Radar."

"Why would you need it?" was her response. Gohan was getting a bit impatient. "She's the world's smartest woman and she can't figure out why?" he thought to himself.

"Because…uh…we need to make a wish" was his response.

"Ooooh, for what?" Damn that woman. She was really testing him now. Keeping his calm, Gohan said "we don't know yet, but in case we need it for something we want to make sure we have control over the dragonballs to prevent any evil wishes from being made." There, if that wasn't good enough then Gohan might have destroyed Capsule Corp.

Fortunately it was, and Bulma left the door and returned with the dragon radar. "You guys want to come in?"

Piccolo looked at Gohan, who nodded in approval. The two entered the mansion that was Bulma's house. "You guys want anything to eat?" asked Bulma. All she heard were voices of dissent. "Gohan I thought you would love to have something after flying all the way out here!"

"Uhh no thanks Bulma. Not today; however, we have one other question"

"Shoot" said Bulma

Gohan took a deep breath, and prayed for the best. "We were hoping you could let us use one of your spaceships to fly to planet Yardrat. We would need the coordinates for the planet, of course. So—"

"I'd love to help! I'll just go get one of my capsules right now."

When she returned, Bulma beckoned the two to go outside. With a click of the capsule and an explosion, the spaceship materialized onto the front lawn.

"You said you wanted to go to Yardrat right? I already have the coordinates on the ship!"

This was news to Gohan. "How did you know…?"

"Well, after your father returned to Earth, I decided to plot the coordinates of every planet possible. It took me about a month, but I did it. I'm so glad someone's using it!"

"Wow, all that work? I'm impressed Bulma," Gohan beamed.

Bulma turned pressed a button on the side of the spaceship to turn it back into a capsule, and then gave that capsule to Gohan.

"Anything else I can do for you guys?"

"No, that's about it for now, thanks a bunch Bulma!" and with that the two fighters flew off with the dragon radar and spaceship capsule in their hands.

"Let's try to do this as quickly as possible, Piccolo," Gohan said. "Yeah, I want to get it over with as well," he replied.

Within 4 hours the duo collected all 7 dragonballs and was ready to summon Shenron.

"3 hours and 45 minutes. That's a new record I believe. Good job Piccolo."

"Yeah, same to you Gohan. Now let's see if your plan will work"

"Ok." The dragonballs were placed on the ground immediately started to glow. "Eternal Dragon! By your name I summon you forth! Shenron!" cried Gohan. All of a sudden, the sky turned black. The light from the dragonballs shot upwards into the clouds in the shape of a dragon. The next thing anyone knew, Shenron appeared before Gohan and Piccolo.

"You have awakened me from my slumber. I will grant you two wishes." If the words hadn't given it away, the rough voice indicated that it was indeed Earth's legendary dragon.

"Shenron, I need to know now; if I wish for piccolo to be the strongest warrior on planet Earth, will you be able to grant it?"

"I am sorry, but I do not have the power to grant that wish."

"Can we use both wishes for that one wish?"

"It will be very hard…" Shenron's crimson eyes glowed for a few seconds. "Your wish has been granted. I must go now."

"That's weird, I don't feel any different," an astonished Piccolo remarked.

"Then why don't we test your abilities?"

With that sentence, Gohan powered up to Super Saiyan 2. "Come on Piccolo, if you beat me you have to agree that Shenron made you the most powerful creature on the planet!"

"But how do I know you won't go easy on me?"

"Just watch me power up to my limit" Gohan's ki skyrocketed and his torso was shrouded by electricity. His aura grew another 2 feet around him, and the nearby mountains imploded from the excess energy.

"Astounding…" Piccolo gaped.

"Ok I held up my end Piccolo, now you power up."

Piccolo threw off his weighted clothes and started to power up. His white aura flared up. After 30 seconds, Piccolo then tapped into a source of ki he had not known to be within him. "Unbelievable! Where am I getting all this power from?"

"Where have you been Piccolo? You just saw Shenron" Gohan chuckled and continued to witness his friend's energy.

After another minute which involved more of the same (earthquakes, collapsing mountains), Gohan asked "are you ready yet Piccolo?"

"I'm ready, show me what you've got." (A/N: I know, a cheesy reference to ssj3 goku)

"Here we go!" Gohan flew forward to attack Piccolo, who just stood there. Just as Gohan was about to land a punch in his gut, Piccolo grabbed Gohan's arm. What ensued was a struggle between piccolo's left hand and gohan's right arm. As the two grunted, Gohan thought "wow, I flew slower against Cell…" Piccolo finally got the upperhand by headbutting Gohan, who was knocked back several hundred yards.

"My ki attacks will be useless unless I can catch him off-guard". Gohan then tried the after-image attack. Instantly, 12 different Gohans appeared around Piccolo. The Super Namek didn't even move his legs when he shot a ki blast in the face of the image containing the real Gohan.

"What…How…" Gohan was stunned, but didn't have time to think as Piccolo delivered a fierce knee to the gut and then an elbow to the neck. Gohan stopped himself from crashing into the ground, and then tried to catch the Namek off-balance with a couple of hundred ki blasts. Each golden colored ball of ki had the power to destroy a mountain as witnessed by all of the missed blasts. However, Gohan wasn't shocked. He just continued to fire ki blasts while Piccolo dodged them. That's when Gohan took the chance to fly with the beams and land a punch in Piccolo's chin.

To his surprise, the plan worked. The punch pushed Piccolo's chin up and sent him flying back into a mountain.

"Yes, I got him…what the…." Piccolo had returned without a mark on his body. "It's amazing how powerful I have become Gohan. However, we both know that I'm not one to bark the loudest, so let's resume this battle.

"Yes, let's"

The two entered sparring mode, exchanging a fury of kicks and punches blocked by their opponent. This deadlock continued for half an hour. Finally, Gohan tried to go on the offensive. He faked a right jab and came across Piccolo's neck with a powerful kick from his left leg, sending Piccolo flying across the sky. At this moment Gohan resorted to a reliable attack he had not used in years.

"Masenko ha!"

The blast made impact with Piccolo's body and sent him crashing into the ground.

Gohan was panting. Super Saiyan 2 was beginning to take its toll on him. If only he hadn't gone on a 3 year training hiatus…..

Piccolo got up from the ground and saw Gohan weak. He decided to finish this battle now while Gohan could still stay Super Saiyan 2.

Gohan was still breathing heavily when he saw Piccolo materialize right in front of him. He barely had time to put up his guard when Piccolo attacked with a barrage of punches and kicks. Since he had not yet gotten into a defensive position, he met the full impact of every single blow, and a final kick into his ribs sent him into the ground.

Piccolo decided to test Gohan with his trump card.

"Oh no…" Gohan slowly rose to his feet as he saw Piccolo put two fingers to his head and begin to charge up for his attack.

"Ka….Me"

"Special Beam Cannon!"

"Ha…Me" blue ki started to form in Gohan's hands, and the beam was already launched towards him. It would be only a matter of seconds…

"HA!"

Gohan's beam met Piccolo's head on. The two beams fought, but Gohan already knew who would win this fight. Within 10 seconds, the kamehameha wave was destroyed. Gohan had already given up on the wave and braced himself by crossing his arms over his torso. Piccolo's attack hit his arms and pushed him back almost a mile before he was able to dive backwards and let the beam continue on and eventually hit the sun.

"He's…done it" and with a smile on his face Gohan fainted on the broken ground.

"You're right Gohan. Shenron told the truth." With a smile on his face, he picked up the unconscious Gohan and flew up to Dende's Lookout

End Chapter 3 – Piccolo's Power


	4. An Unexpected Desire

Piccolo arrived on the Lookout and greeted Dende

"Let me guess, another Gohan for me to heal?" joked Dende.

"Yeah, if it's not a burden on you…" Piccolo shot back.

"Wow Piccolo, I haven't heard you laugh like that in a while," said a confused Dende.

"Yeah, well you know what happened…I just find it great that Gohan would go through all of this just to train."

"I know, but that still doesn't make sense; why would he go through all of this?"

"What can I say? He's done a complete 180 since I first met him and he hated fighting. It must be a rebellion against Chi-Chi's numerous attempts to suppress his saiyan side"

"I hear you Piccolo; sometimes I wish humans would not put so much pressure on their offspring."

Piccolo nodded. "His entire personality has changed though, he seems to love power too much. What is he getting at?"

"I guess we won't know until he wakes up" Dende bent down to heal Gohan. Instantly, waves of warmth and relief spread over the demi-saiyan. His battle scars at healed and he slowly opened his eyes to the site of his two friends.

"Thanks Dende" Gohan grinned

"Not a problem," Dende replied. "But can you please explain to us what changed in you?"

"Yeah, I'm curious to find out myself; why do you want to do all of this?"

Gohan chuckled. "It's a funny story, actually. I was reading about the space-time continuum during my studies and became curious; no human has the power or speed to travel through hyperspace. Only Goku has the speed, but unfortunately instant transmission is a form of long-distance teleportation. He never distorted the space-time continuum while doing this. I want to travel to parallel universes; it would be cool to see myself in another world."

"I see your point, but how would you do it?" Piccolo asked.

"Well, I just need to train and see what new techniques I can learn. Hopefully I can create something powerful enough to rip a hole in the universe to see some of my other selves…"

_He's holding something back, I know it!,_ Piccolo thought to himself. After all, why would he want to learn Instant Transmission after all of that, and wish for me to be stronger than him?

"So that's it? But why have you disavowed your family?" Dende asked.

"Because you two are the only family I need," Gohan cheerfully replied. "Chi-Chi would rather see me get a PhD than hear about me saving the world. Earth has been known to attract trouble for whatever reasons. I can't neglect the safety of our planet just for a few books that teach me laws I can easily break without blinking an eye. I know Goku would be disappointed, but he made the choice to stay in the Other World. Now he has to live with the consequences."

"So…are you ever going to see your family again?"

"Well, in order to show that woman that fighters have brains I suppose I'll have to read a little. Unfortunately, it's time for us to go to Yardrat. I'll see you later, ok Dende?"

"Good luck guys. Stay safe!

"Like we would ever be in danger" Gohan grinned. With the click of a capsule, the Yardrat-bound spaceship appeared, and Gohan and Piccolo went in.

Dende watched the two blast-off into space. "I sure hope those two aren't in over their heads, especially Gohan…." With a sigh, he returned to his palace.


	5. Pushing Limits

After 4 days in flight, the two landed on Yardrat. Somehow, the inhabitants understood Gohan and Piccolo, and within 2 months both had mastered the instant transmission technique.

Meanwhile on Earth…

Chi-Chi was depressed today. Just as she had been the day before. And the day before that. A month had gone by and her son was nowhere to be found. After Bulma told her that she had met Gohan with Piccolo the day after he ran away, her anger was directed towards Piccolo, who she believed had "corrupted" her Gohan.

As she washed the dishes after Goten's meal, she looked out the window and sighed. "What happened to you Gohan?"

After returning to Earth by way of their instant transmission, the deadly duo greeted Dende and showed off their amazing technique by tealing Master Roshi's dirty magazines. After the fun was over, Dende and Piccolo asked Gohan "what's next?"

"You guys know what I want. I need to get stronger until I can freely move between universes. I need to be able to harness the power of a Super Saiyan 2 for a whole week before I can think of jumping to the next level."

"WHAT?!" The two Nameks couldn't believe what they heard. Another level of Super Saiyan?

"Yes, but not now. I'm pretty sure Piccolo is at that next level, so I'm not even thinking of going there until I beat him in a fight."

"Alright, so what's happening next?" Piccolo asked.

"Let's do some pure sparring before we meditate. I want to try to meditate as a Super Saiyan 2 for as long as I can. We have about 60 days until the next martial arts tournament"

"Well, it was great seeing you guys. Have fun training!" cried Dende.

"Later bro." and the two disappeared into the oblivion.

"Did he just call me 'bro'?"

Gohan was going all-out on Piccolo, who was barely managing to block the Super Saiyan's onslaught. Each punch and kick had enough force to cause serious injuries, even to the powerful Namek. The two stopped for a short while. They had been at it for almost 5 hours and Gohan had yet to break a sweat.

"Gohan, you're amazing…it looks like the Saiyan in you is really showing. I think you might even be stronger than me. You're not even tired yet! Excellent work."

Gohan's lips remained straight. "I know you're holding back Piccolo, You weren't fighting me at full strength in our last battle and you're fighting at even lower level right now. Don't worry about my 'Saiyan Pride', that's only Vegeta's nonsense."

_How did he know?_ Piccolo had no choice but to power up to his maximum.

"I know it's just a sparring match, but don't expect me to go easy on you."

"Don't worry Piccolo, I never had such hopes" After flashing quick grins at each other, the two flew back towards each other and started punching and kicking with renewed intensity. After a few minutes the two began to use their new technique to guess where the other would be. Somehow, Gohan could see Piccolo's intended teleport spot just as his opponent could see his. Neither fighter could see his opponent, each was relying on ki signals to locate the other. The match was a virtual deadlock, until Piccolo suddenly shot a ki blast and then teleported, confusing Gohan's senses for a split second. However, it was enough to elbow Gohan in the neck and send him hurdling into the earth.

Still in Super Saiyan 2, Gohan yelled to Piccolo "Alright, you win. Let's start that meditation. But first, I'll need a senzu." On their way down to Earth, Gohan stopped at Korin's Tower to get a fresh bag of senzu beans.

"Take your time Gohan," a battle weary Piccolo replied. This was one of the most intense fights he had ever had. The speed with which he and Gohan flew left virtually no room for error. It was unlike any experience he had had before…

Undoing the bag that he tucked away near a faraway rock 10 miles away. Eating a single green bean, Gohan's ki instantly returned to its maximum.

"Hey Piccolo, I was wondering…"

"Yeah?"

"Would you do the honors and upgrade my outfit?" Gohan just realized he had spent the past two months wearing nothing but khaki pants and street shoes.

"Sure thing." With a movement of his finger, Piccolo transformed Gohan from a half-naked vagrant into a Namek, with his red belt, purple pants and vest, brown slippers that felt like shoes, and weighted cape draped around the shoulders.

"Ahh… I love it. The same uniform that I beat Cell with. Ok, let's start to meditate. Maybe we can focus our energies to work towards my goal of seeing alternate universes."

"You think you can hold out a week of meditating like me while staying in the Super Saiyan 2 stage and not eating a single ounce of food?" an astonished Piccolo asked.

"No, I'll have to eat thrice a day. I can suppress my Saiyan appetite, but the human appetite can't be beaten. I'll just instantly transport myself to Capsule Corp. when I need something to eat."

"Ok. Ready to begin?"

"You know it."

The two hovered in butterfly positions with eyes closed, elbows resting on their thighs with the hands pointed towards the center of their laps. After about 7 hours, Gohan said, "I'll have to get some food right now. I'll be back in half an hour." Piccolo gave a nod of approval, and Gohan put two fingers to his forehead and used Vegeta's ki to transport to Capsule Corp."

Bulma screamed when she opened the door. "WHERE HAVE YOUR BEEN GOHAN? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED YOUR MOTHER IS?"

"Chi-Chi is no longer an important part of my life. Anyways, I came to ask if I could eat some food here three times a day for 30 minutes."

"What do you mean she's not important to you? She's your mother!"

"Don't worry about it Bulma, it's not your problem." And just to intimidate her, he powered up some more sending energy waves throughout the campus, which caused a mini-earthquake.

"Stop it! You're going to destroy it all!" she screamed.

"So will you listen to me then?"

Bulma sighed. "Fine, I'll _feed _you, but you better not empty my pantry every day!"

"Oh, don't worry I eat human rations now."

Bulma snorted "Yeah, as if. And I'll be telling your mother that you're here"

Walking into her house he called over his shoulder "See if I care. Her name's Chi-Chi, not 'your mother'."

After a quick lunch, Gohan returned back to his meditations. For the next 2 days, Gohan managed to get through the meals at Capsule Corp. without Chi-Chi's presence. However, when he arrived on the third day he found her teary-eyed in Bulma's living room.

"GOHAN WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW YOU HAVE WORRIED ME SICK?"

She ran over to hug and hit him at the same time, but he yelled "STOP!" and she froze in mid-stride.

"I'm not telling you why your name is Chi-Chi and not 'mom' anymore. You'll have to ask my Namek brothers in order to get that answer."

And with that he disappeared into the kitchen and then ate his dinner back near his training grounds.

Chi-Chi couldn't believe it; "My son IS a monster! First he has that yellow hair, now he abandons his entire family! His father would never accept this!" And with the thought of Goku she just cried some more.

Bulma couldn't think of anything more than putting a comforting arm on her friend's shoulder.

The next day, Gohan asked Bulma to give him some money instead.

"I'd rather just buy what I want anyway, so can I have about 500,000 zenni?"

"Your mother was right. You are a monster…"

"Believe what you want, Bulma, but if you would rather I not come to your house every few hours to eat, then a half a million zenni out of your conglomerate corporation shouldn't be a hassle."

"Fine! Take this card and you can get all the zenni it as!" No sooner than Bulma handed Gohan the white card with a black magnetic stripe had the youth dematerialized after a hurried "thanks."

After the seven days of meditation were over, Gohan felt stronger than ever. His power increased without a single punch, kick, or ki blast, and he felt the wisdom and discipline he sought to extract from Piccolo when he first met him.

"Piccolo, I like this arrangement. We should train hard for a few days and then meditate for a week to let our bodies heal. It's a perfect cycle. "

"I like that idea."

"So, when do you want to battle again?"

Piccolo dreaded the question. "Uhh..whenever you're ready. You sure you don't wanna power down for a little while?"

"No, I want to push myself to a critical point just this once."

"I will fight only under one condition…"

"What's that?" Piccolo IT'd right in front of Gohan and gave him a hard punch to the face. Gohan didn't have time to react and flew backwards from the momentum of the punch.

"…that I get the first shot in"

When Gohan finally stopped himself he grinned. "Oh you've done it now!"

The fight had just entered its 12th hour. Gohan was still in Super Saiyan 2, bruised but not beaten. His opponent was in a worse state; Piccolo was breathing dangerously slowly, and had several marks on his face. _It took him only two months…but he did it,_ he thought to himself. _Heh, I should have expected nothing less from my former pupil_.

"Ok Piccolo if you survive this attack then you win. Got it?"

"Bring it on!"

"Here I come!" Gohan IT'd in front of Piccolo. He'd been expecting that. Just as Gohan was about to punch Piccolo, he screamed. Piccolo wasn't expecting that. The scream was long and loud, and forced Piccolo to rip off his ears in order to stop the pain.

_What is he doing? _

The scream didn't stop. It became so loud that the air in front of it started to swirl rapidly. Piccolo looked closer at the scream and saw jolts of electricity inside what seemed to be a cylinder of ki. Except the ki had no color and was nearly invisible. What he saw next made him gasp. Gohan was screaming so loud that the air receiving the electricity was not only swirling, but….a black hole started to form in the middle of the cylinder! The black hole slowly increased in size, until it was as big as Gohan himself. However, Gohan had lost much of his energy and stopped yelling. His hair turned back to normal and he just lay on the ground.

_Damn, he's close to death. I better get to Dende quickly._

Piccolo quickly grabbed Gohan and IT'd to the Lookout, startling Dende, who had just left his palace to overlook the Earth.

"There's no time to talk Dende! Just heal him before he loses it!" Piccolo screamed.

"Right!" Dende got down and quickly put his hands over Gohan's lifeless body. Ki spread over Gohan, who's strength returned.

"What happened…."

"You passed out Gohan. Right after you created a black hole with your scream. You were weaker than the average human when I brought you to Dende."

"Haha….I finally did it…" Gohan smiled as he fell asleep, still tired from a lack of rest during the past week.

"Yes, you've surpassed me yet again." Said a smiling Piccolo


	6. Another Discovery

Gohan woke up somewhere he had never been. He was still at the Lookout, but in a bedroom somewhere within the palace. With a smile, he leapt out and ran outside the palace to meet the former and current guardians still standing where he last saw them.

"Hey guys, how long was I out?"

Dende laughed "Only for 2 days Gohan."

"Really? Well I guess I needed my sleep."

"So you ready to start training again?" Piccolo asked.

"Yeah, I have to get stronger to do what I did before I passed out."

"Let me guess: you finally ripped a whole through space?"

Gohan smirked. "You know me too well Piccolo. I want you to do it too, but first we have to get stronger. The hole doesn't last forever, and I'm sure it closed just minutes after I created it."

"Well, it would be nice….but there is one problem."

"What's that?"

"You beat me in our last bout. You're the strongest again." Piccolo grinned with closed eyes.

Gohan could not believe what he was hearing. "What?! I thought Shenron permamently made you the strongest fighter in the world?!!

"I guess even Shenron has his limits" Dende piped up.

"Gohan, you get stronger at a much faster rate than I do; you know that."

"But…I need to train with you, you're the only one who would be able to keep up with me…."

"Don't worry I never said I wouldn't fight again. Just try not to kill me."

The trio laughed at this last comment.

"Well, looks like we gotta go now. See you around Dende?" cried a cheerful Gohan.

"Alright, goodbye for now!"

And with that, Gohan and Piccolo jumped off the Lookout.

As they passed by Korin's Tower, Gohan was reminded of something. "Piccolo, why did you bring me to the lookout when we had a whole bag of senzus?"

"Because you didn't have enough energy to even swallow. That's how close you came…."

_Wow, I never thought that would drain away all of my energy. _Gohan thought to himself.

Gohan powered back up to Super Saiyan 2. _Wow, it's so much easier now. _

"Piccolo, are you ready for my next transformation?"

Piccolo was shocked. _What? Surely it can't have happened already. How could he get that much stronger?_

"Alright, here I go."

Gohan screamed long and hard. The heavens trembled, lightning bolts struck the earth. Suddenly, the demi Saiyan's muscles doubled in mass all over his body. First, the lats, then the deltoids, and finally the impulse spread all the way down to the calves. A cloud of debris formed, blinding Piccolo for several minutes.

When the dust settled, the slug nearly dropped his jaw. Gohan still had the same body, except it was twice as large. His aura had radiated farther out, and electricity licked his body.

"I guess you could call this Ultra Super Saiyan 2"

Piccolo's eyes widened from the noticeable increase in ki. A smile slowly crept on his face.  
"You will thrash me in this fight…if you can keep up with me"

Gohan lunged forward. Piccolo already noticed the drop in speed and teleported right behind his opponent.

"How the-" and Gohan felt the knee in his back. _No…this isn't right….he's much faster than me!_

He teleported and then appeared behind Piccolo. Milliseconds before landing a punch to the Namek's head, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down, Gohan saw an elbow leaving its imprint on his abdominals.

That's when Gohan remembered. Mirai Trunks said he was powerful enough to beat Cell but lacked speed because of his enormous muscle mass_. I'm too slow…there has to be a level beyond this…_

Gohan flew back to the ground and powered down to his base form.

"What's the matter? Giving up so soon?" Piccolo asked.

"Heh, you and I both know why I stopped."

Piccolo grinned. "Good thing you figured it out before you embarrassed yourself."

"Let's just meditate for a while then"

"Your call."


	7. A New Champion

And so the two months had passed. It was the day of the world martial arts tournament, and hundreds of fighters lined up to register their names. A junior division had been created; all fighers under the age of 15 were placed in this bracket.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to add a few months to my age, Piccolo."

Gohan and his green companion were waiting their turn to register. Both were dressed in Piccolo's Namekian clothes; Gohan decided to not wear the turban. It would come off anyway if he felt like going blonde, he reasoned.

"You're tall enough, I don't think it's a problem." This was true; Gohan was now 6 feet tall, and could easily be confused with someone in his late teens.

After registration, all the fighters were told about the new method for determining qualifications for the final round: A punching machine. To demonstrate, the "World's Hero" Mr. Satan used all of his willpower to punch the machine. After a few seconds of random digits moving around on a screen attached to the machine, the screen displayed '109'.

One by one, fighters hit the machine with all their might; some landed 54's, others landed 78's, but no one had broken 100 yet.

When Gohan finally got his turn, he was not sure of the best way to do this without destroying the machine. So instead, he poked the machine as lightly as he could. The numbers flashed and read '578'.

Everyone's jaw dropped to the floor. Gohan was asked to try again (for fear that the machine was malfunctioning), and after reducing his ki even more, he was able to get a '205'.

Piccolo got a '198' and stunned the crowd once again.

Mr. Satan was at a loss for words. _These guys look like the ones with the light tricks from the Cell Games….The boy! It's him! Oh no this is bad…._

The two must have been one of the first few to register, because they waited an hour to meet all of the fighters. They soon found out what the hold-up was.

"Oh look it's Kakarot's son and his green friend."

"Hey there buddy how's your useless training going?" Gohan retorted.

Vegeta smirked. "You can't beat me. I know for a fact that I have trained much harder than you. You've grown soft from all those books."

"Is that so? Just wait until one of us thrashes you. Goodbye." And with that, the two walked away, leaving a sputtering Prince behind.

"You never acted like that around Vegeta before."

"That's because he used to scare the daylights out of me. Now he's not fit to wipe our shoes, let alone brag about his 'incredible power'. It's always funny to see him get mad anyway."

"Hey guys! Long time no see… Gohan"

Gohan flinched at that last comment and turned around. "Oh…Krillin. I've been training with Piccolo for the past few months."

The once bald monk now had a full mop of black hair. He was currently wearing a scowl on his face. "Gohan, what you did was wrong and you know it."

"This is neither the time nor the place to be talking about that." Piccolo broke them up.

"Fine, I'll see you in the second match then."

The 16 fighters had been decided. The first match was Mr. Satan v. Mighty Mask; the second was Piccolo v. Krillin; the third was Gohan v. Vegeta…

_Oh no…not him_, Gohan slapped himself on the head. _Now I have to humiliate him right away._

He continued reading. Tienshinhan v. Wild Tiger _I haven't seen Tien in ages. _Killah v. 18 _So she is fighting too. _

The first match was about to begin. Gohan quickly skimmed the list for anymore noteworthy names and then went back to stand with Piccolo.

"So who won the junior division?"

"Some girl known as 'Videl.' She's supposed to be Mr. Satan's daughter."

Gohan smiled. _Great, now I get to humiliate that cheapskate infront of his family._

"I think your match has come, it sounds like Mr. Fake won the first match."

"Alright. See you in a few minutes. I think Krillin might put up a good fight."

5 minutes later, Piccolo returned with a lifeless body. After giving the midget a senzu bean, Piccolo told him to leave in one of his harsher tones. Krillin complied almost immediately.

"What did you do to him?" Gohan asked, expecting an amusing response.

"Nothing. He broke his arms when I attacked him. It's your turn now Gohan. Don't let his pride anger you."

Gohan laughed. "I'll try."

Gohan met Vegeta as they walked out to the ring.

"You're going down kid, no son of Kakarot will ever defeat me."

"Don't fall of your horse now, your Highness."

"Shut up! Stop mocking me!"

Gohan laughed off Vegeta's comments.

The cymbals sounded; the announcer yelled "Begin!" and Vegeta made the first move. Gohan didn't even move as Vegeta's fist punched him in the gut.

"Is that the best you can do?"

Vegeta turned Super Saiyan and tried his assault again. He landed a barrage of kicks and punches on Gohan's torso, and even shot a ki blast at him from a few inches' distance. After the smoke settled, Gohan was still standing in the same exact spot, laughing hard.

"Stop holding back. Here's what I'll do. I'll keep my weights on and let you power up to your maximum. If I even throw off my weighted clothing, then you win. Deal?"

"Your loss, kid."

As Vegeta powered up, bolts of electricity started to form on his body. His golden aura exploded around him, and the whole stadium started to rumble. When he was finally done, his aura was a lot farther out, and electricity crackled all around him.

"Ho hum, I already did that, if you can remember"

"SHUT UP! NOW I AM GOING TO BEAT YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

Vegeta flew in the air and cupped his hands in front of his body. Gohan got angry "You're going to blow this place up if you do that." Vegeta gave his usual evil smirk and continued to gather energy.

"IF IT KNOCKS YOU OUT THEN IT'S WORTH THE RISKS! FINAL FLA-"

Gohan had disappeared and arrived right behind Vegeta.

"Surprise." And with a hard chop to the Prince's neck, Gohan sent his opponent flying out of the stadium.

"Sorry it took longer than I expected," Gohan joked with Piccolo.

"Apology accepted" Piccolo shot back. "Let's see how the rest of the tournament goes…"

This was the moment Gohan had been waiting for. He could finally show the world what a joke the "legendary" Hercule Satan was.

As the cymbals sounded, a terrified Mr. Satan begged for mercy. "Please don't hurt me too bad kid."

"Do you remember me old man?"

"Old man?! Why I oughta…. you're the kid! From 3 years ago!"

"Looks like your not as dumb as I thought you were." Gohan smiled.

"Please don't embarrass me in front of my daughter like this. I beg you!"

The two fighters looked towards Videl, who was watching the fight, but not really interested.

"It doesn't seem like she cares; maybe she already knows you're a fraud?"

"Please kid…don't hurt me…"

"Too late." In the blink of an eye, Gohan was in front of Mr. Satan. He flicked the afro-man's chin, which sent him flying into the crowd.

Gohan looked back at Videl. She was shocked beyond belief.

"Stupid girl. I thought she might have remembered my power from the Cell Games."

The crowd started to buzz like angry bees.

"What?!" yelled one man "The champ….lost?"

The announcer appeared baffled, but his thoughts said otherwise. _Yes! The excitement is back! I haven't been this interested in a fighter since Goku! Then again, he is the son of the same man… I'm so glad that goon lost, he was beginning to irritate me._

However, he played along.

"Oh no! It looks like our champ has been defeated by none other than Gohan, son of former champ Goku!"

"Hey…that kid beat the champ…so he must be our new hero!" said one spectator.

Before he knew it, Gohan was listening to a crowd chanting "Go-han! Go-han! Go-han!"

"I can't stand this crowd. I'm sorry Gohan, but you'll have to find someone else to fight with. I'll be back at our usual spot."

"Ok Piccolo, I respect your wishes. It's not like you need the money as badly anyway."

"Yeah. See you soon." And Piccolo IT'd back to his training grounds.

Gohan found himself in the semi-finals, fighting Tienshinhan, who won his match against Piccolo by default.

"Long time no seen Tien…ready to lose?"

"We'll see about that" Tien replied, while lunging at Gohan and landing punches and kicks all over Gohan. _I respect Tien, so I'll fake this for a little while_. After pretending to get the stuffing beat out of him (A/N: I'm writing on Turkey day so…) Gohan fell to the ground.

"I know you're better than that, Gohan." Tien flew half a mile high and pulled his next move, yelling "TRI-BEAM ATTACK"

Tien was panting. _I shouldn't have put so much energy into that attack. He could have easily moved out of the way._ What he saw next came as a complete surprise.

"What?! No way! He didn't dodge it?"

"Ok Tien, enough playing around." Gohan took his weighted cape off and flew up to meet Tienshinhan.

"Tien….I'm sorry."

"For what?" The next thing he knew, Tien was lying on the grass, shocked by the kick to his head.

"For getting your hopes up."

The finals were set up: 18 v. Gohan.

Gohan wasn't sure what to say to 18. She was married to Krillin and he had cut ties with his family, so he had no reason to hold anything against her. But 18's arrogant disposition annoyed Gohan to no end.

"18, my best opponent forfeited a long time ago. I'm not in the mood to thrash you. How about I let you win? All I need is some money for a place to stay. I'm sure 5 million zenni will more than cover that.

"You're right. Anyone who could defeat Cell is probably out of my league. But you should probably know that your mother is here." She pointed her thumb in the direction Chi-Chi was sitting, with her father the Ox-King, and Bulma.

"Go Gohan! I still love you! Win that prize money!"

_She still loves me? Yeah that's it. If there was no money involved she wouldn't even be here._

Her name's Chi-Chi, and you can have your 10 mil"

Gohan jumped off the arena, leaving a stunned crowd absorb what had just happened.

_Good thing I didn't have to embarrass her in front of everyone._

With his 5 million zenni, Gohan found a condo in West City. "There, this should be good enough. At least I have a mailing address in case I decide to go to school later on."

Gohan found that with the remaining 2 million zenni, he had enough money to last him years of food, so he opened up several bank accounts to store this money, and then returned to the mountains.


	8. Unfathomable Rage

After another 3 months, Gohan finally felt ready to do the impossible.

The way he said it to Piccolo made it seem as if it was no big deal. "I'm going to rip a hole in the universe, wanna come?" he asked in a casual tone.

"Alright, just don't overdo it"

Gohan started screaming like he had done 5 months prior, only this time the scream was much louder, and the ki coming from his mouth was much larger as well. Within 30 seconds, a crater with the diameter of 2 cars from end to end appeared. Gohan peered inside the hole, which consisted of no light, just pure darkness.

"I'm not sure how this works but I think we both have to use our minds and ki to say what universe we want to visit," Gohan said to an awestruck Piccolo.

"Okay….where do you want to go?"

"Let's go see Mirai Trunks' Timeline. I want to see what really happened and what I look like as an adult. Now follow me, and remember to push your mind and body to scream that you want to see that timeline, or else we might be stuck in another universe."

The two entered the hole, and as soon as they crossed the threshold between the earth and the opening, they were sucked into the void. Carefully, Gohan and Piccolo concentrated and envisioned Mirai Trunks's universe.

After what semed to be an endless ride, the two were spit out into the same exact mountainour region. The whole was still there behind them.

"Oh great, don't tell me we went in and out! What a waste of energy!"

"Wait Gohan, do you sense that?"

"Yes…there is so little human ki left…I'd guess that 90 of the population is gone." After flying to the major cities, the two discovered something they couldn't believe: a path of destruction and pillage. Every major city had been leveled, and there were no humans in sight.

_Wow, this is crazy. The androids are here. I wonder what happened the day they showed up._

Without warning, Gohan found himself and his Namek friend looking at South City, except it was still intact.

"What did you do?"

"I don't know…I just wondered what happened when the Androids first showed up."

"So I guess it all depends on you then Gohan. You created that hole, you control what universes you get to see, and what time periods you want to see."

Gohan murmured in assent. Suddenly, an explosion went off.

"What was that? It sounded like something went off on one of those islands." Piccolo then realized the obvious: "they're here!"

"Let's go. I don't want to mess with this timeline, so let's suppress our ki and hide somewhere."

The two saw the Z Warriors lined up to fight the Androids. Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan, Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin were all in attack positions. Suddenly, Piccolo lunged out first. He lunged at Android 18, and missed, only to be elbowed in the gut by the cyborg. He collapsed and never woke up.

_Piccolo…_Gohan couldn't believe what he was seeing

One by one, the rest of the fighters fell. Vegeta, Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin all perished in the battle. Only (Mirai) Gohan was able to escape the slaughter unharmed.

_When did Trunks become a Super Saiyan?_

The island dissolved and turned into a cliff overlooking a city succumbing to explosions. Mirai Super Saiyan Gohan and Mirai Trunks were talking to each other.

_Hey, I look good. Too bad I'm missing an arm. _Gohan smirked to himself

Suddenly, Gohan knocked Trunks out and flew off to the city.

"Let's follow, Piccolo."

"Alright."

The fight between Gohan and the androids dragged on until rain started pouring. After a momentary stand-off, both androids attacked Gohan at the same time.

_That's not fair, one arm against four? _

Suddenly, Android 17 tripped Gohan, who now started to run away from the two. He flew away, with the androids right on his tail.

_Damn…_Gohan reacted to seeing his adult self get blinded by a ki explosion in front of him, and then get knocked away by the two cyborgs. What he saw next would leave him stunned for several minutes afterwards.

The two androids flew up in the air and started showering Gohan with ki blasts. The next thing he heard was a terrifying scream from his Mirai counterparr, and then a monstrous explosion.

_No…_

Trunks found Gohan a few minutes later, and started screaming like a madman. His hair shot up and he was immersed in a golden aura. This was it. He transformed at the sight of his dead mentor.

_I need to get back to my own world…_

They were back at the portal, which was now only as tall as Gohan. Both Gohan and Piccolo entered and came back to their normal universe.

Gohan let out a cry of fury.

"NOOOOOOOOOO" he screamed, but it didn't stop there.

He went straight to Super Saiyan 2, but it didn't stop there either.

His golden aura surrounded him like a sphere, and his yell of pain and anger could be heard for miles around.

"THEY CAN'T…GET AWAY…WITH THIS…."

Lightning struck everywhere, and shockwaves destroyed every mountain in site. The earthquakes even reached Capsule Corp. hundreds of miles away.

"What's happening now?!" Bulma screamed.

If the region they trained in wasn't secluded from civilization, then several cities might have been destroyed. However, after five minutes of this another change came about Gohan. His hair started grow…first down his neck, and then down his back.

"Has he finally…done it?" said Piccolo.

The hair didn't stop at his back, it kept growing until Gohan let out one final scream that forced Piccolo to rip his ears off.

The screaming finally stopped.

Piccolo stood there, gaping at Gohan, who looked completely different. His golden hair had grown to his thighs. His eyebrows seemed to have folded in under the skin on his forehead, creating a bulge where they should have been. The emerald eyes had now changed color: Gohan's pupils reverted back to black, while his irises were now a color of deep blue. Angry bolts of electricity enveloped his body from head to toe.

Finally, he spoke.

"This is the power I've been waiting for…" he said in a deeper voice. "I am finally a Super Saiyan 3!" and with that he broke into laughter that had the slightest trace of evil in it.

Piccolo was still star-struck. "I'll be right back, Piccolo." And with that comment, Gohan placed two fingers on his forehead and vanished.


	9. A Mighty Beatdown

Krillin and 18 were sparring outside of Kame House as the hot sun continued to beat down upon them. With her superior strength, 18 was having an easy time defending her husband's attacks. However, he had let his guard down on his left side. Taking advantage of this, she swung her leg towards the left side of his neck. When she made contact, she was surprised to see that she had not hit a neck, but rather someone else's waist. She looked up and saw the person that had intruded her match.

"Gohan…..?"

"Hey Gohan, what brings you here…and what happened to your hair?!" Krillin asked from behind. Gohan ignored him. Instead, he wore an expression of anger, and glared daggers into 18's eyes.

"What happened to your face?" 18 asked.

Gohan smirked at this last comment and grabbed 18 by the throat and then hoisted her up to his eye level.

"Gohan! Stop! Have you gone mad? Put 18 down!" Krillin yelled as he went around to face him.

"Krillin…Leave at once if you don't want to get hurt."

"No Gohan, put my wife down!"

Without warning, Gohan started to put more pressure on his grip on 18.

"Please…stop…" 18 gasped.

"You want me to show you mercy? Did you stop before you killed my master and myself?"

Krillin was confused. "What are you talking about Gohan? 18 hasn't killed anyone."

But before he had finished his sentence, Gohan had already thrown his friend's wife in the air. He flew up to meet 18 and then grabbed her by the head and the feet. He forcefully kneed her in the stomach and then cupped his hands into a fist and slammed her back to the ground. Before she could hit the sand that was the island of Kame House, she was already kicked back up into the air by the demi Saiyan.

"You think you can kill Piccolo and get away with it? No way." Gohan sneered and flew back up to meet her pained facial expression while she was still flying haphazardly. He finally grabbed her by the hair and whispered "Krillin is wrong. I'm no monster; I'm the devil. You're going to die today whether you like it or not."

He started punching 18 in the gut mercilessly. Since he still held her by the hair, she could not even move from the impact. Each hit brought more blood out of her mouth.

"Nooooo!" Krillin flew up to try to fight Gohan off, but Gohan just shot a ki blast with his free hand directly at Krillin, who fell back to the island, barely breathing.

"He was a fool to love you. Your kind must be dealt with appropriately." 18 looked straight into Gohan's eyes, which reflected waves of evil back into her own eyes.

"But first…tell me where your brother is" 18's eyes widened in a mix of shock and fear.

"What do you want to do to him?" she asked, expecting the worst from the next response.

"I want to make him suffer as well for ending my life. Since I can't sense him, I need you to tell me before I kill you."

18 closed her eyes as tears started to sting her face. "I will never tell you…you…thing."

Gohan cackled with delight. "Oh well, I guess it's enough to do you in. After all,_ you_ killed Mr. Piccolo. With a mighty heave, he threw the blonde to a nearby island. He watched her body fall in a graceful arc onto the nearest strip of land, relishing every moment.

"AND NOW YOU DIE! Ka…Me..."

Unbeknownst to Gohan, the preparations he made for his Kamehameha wave had drained his reserves of ki. His body started to shut down on him.

"Ha……"

His eyes felt like a ton of bricks, and his arms felt like 10-ton weights. His hair started to shrink back to normal size.

"Me……….."

The now black-haired teenager fell into a stupor and crashed into the ground, landing several feet from #18.

Gohan stirred, and his eyes shot wide open. "Where am I?" he asked himself. Once he got to his senses, he sat up and found himself in his old room in his old home. He was surrounded by a sea of faces: Bulma, Trunks, Yamcha, Piccolo, Chi-Chi, Piccolo, Krillin, and…18!

"Android!" Gohan tried to lash out at the woman standing next to Krillin.

/Stop Gohan/ This message came as a shock to him.

/Piccolo, you saw what she did, I can't let her live, even if she isn't the same exact person that killed us/

/You can't kill her, she's Krillin's wife. You know I'm not a big fan of human love, but think of what you'd do to Krillin./

/But he shouldn't have fallen in love with a robot…it's only his fault if he gets mad/

/What's done is done. If you did something now you might break his spirit. He doesn't value anyone higher than he does 18./

/Fine, I won't kill her. But only out of respect for Krillin./

"Gohan, we need to talk. You've changed for the worse in the past 7 months," said a shocked Bulma.

"And you completely abandoned your brother and myself! How dare you!" Chi-Chi reached to slap Gohan across the face, but he grabbed her wrist and started to twist her arm. Chi-Chi started to scream in great agony.

"Shut up Chi-Chi. I thought I told you that you're not my mother anymore, at least not in an emotional sense. Never try to hit me again old hag."

A look of confusion, fear, and sadness overcame Chi-Chi, and after Gohan let go of her, she ran out of the room bawling like a baby.

"Now look what you've done!" Bulma said. She and Yamcha followed Chi-Chi downstairs.

Krillin spoke up. "Look Gohan, I don't know what's gotten into you, but you have to stop! You've become worse than Vegeta with this behavior. It's almost as if you've done a 180 and become evil somehow."

"I'm not evil. I haven't killed or intended to kill anyone have I?"

"But you just tried to destroy 18?"

"Listen to yourself Krillin! What kind of human has the name '18'? She isn't human; at least not from the horror I've seen her commit."

18 looked disgusted. "Hello, I haven't done anything wrong in over 3 years! Where are you getting this nonsense from?"

/Should I tell them Gohan?/

A defeated half-saiyan rubbed his temples /Yeah, sure, might as well./

And Piccolo proceeded to tell the two about how Gohan was able to use his energy to create a rip in the universe to travel to whatever timeline he chose, about how he went to the mirai universe and saw the slaughter of the Z fighters at the hands of the androids, most notably 18's slaying of himself. He then described how the two androids killed a one-armed mirai Gohan, and this forced Gohan to return to the present universe.

"Apparently, his rage must have been blinding, because he transformed into a Super Saiyan 3."

"WHAT?" 18 and Krillin yelled at the same time. "So that's why he looked so different…" 18 said out loud.

"Yeah," Piccolo answered. "Apparently, this transformation was similar to Goku's initial transformation. It has tainted his heart temporarily, but because of the magnitude of the transformation, it might last much longer than we expect. So while he is not evil, he is not pure of heart at the moment. I doubt you would be alive right now if I weren't here, 18."

/You couldn't have said it any better, Piccolo/

"Although I do not condone what he did to you, 18, you must understand that he saw people close to him, as well as his own adult self, die from a third person view."

Gohan finally trusted himself to speak. "Yeah, I'm not the devil I said I was, but I still cannot look at your face and forget the pain I feel."

"I think you need some rest to straighten your mind out, Gohan. Why don't you stay here for a while?" Krillin asked.

"NO. I have a residence in West City. I have no use for this place."

Krillin looked down in shame. "Your father would be disappointed, Gohan."

Gohan started to laugh. He put two fingers on his forehead and said "I'll see you two tomorrow." And with that, he vanished.

"Since when did Gohan learn IT?" asked a confused Krillin.

"Long story," Piccolo replied. And he disappeared as well, leaving the pained couple behind.


	10. The Horror Won't End

The next morning, after a long sleep in his luxury suite, Gohan returned to Piccolo to spar.

"You want me go to stage 3 again?"

Piccolo frowned. "Uhh…I prefer you don't."

"Why not? Scared to lose?" Gohan joked.

"No, I'm afraid you'll kill someone with that power."

Gohan fell down and started laughing. "Haha, you know I wouldn't do that. But wait, that reminds me." With a smile he disappeared.

"Gohan NO!" but it was too late. "I'll wait until he attempts to go to Super Saiyan 3"

Gohan arrived right in front of Kame House.

"18! WAKE UP. It's time for your daily beatdown. Come on, I'll even start with my training clothes on just so you don't tire yourself out too early."

After waiting 10 minutes and not hearing a single peep, he flew inside one of the windows. As he walked upstairs to Krillin's room, he suppressed his ki to the point that it made his head spin.

As he entered the room, he sensed something wasn't right. He gave a kick to the air behind him, only to have his foot meet a stomach.

"What the…" Gohan turned around to see 18 wince in pain and shock from being detected. "Oh…yes, my favorite person in the world. Let's go outside, 18."

Once outside, 18 asked "what do you want from me?"

Gohan smirked. He could smell the fear in her blood. "Don't worry, you and Krillin have Mr. Piccolo to thank that you're still alive. I'm not here to kill you; I just want to beat you to a pulp, that's all. But here's what. I'll let you get some hits in on me for about 10 minutes. After that, you're on your own." Gohan could already see Android 18's limp body after he thrashed her around. "Now come at me with everything you've got!"

18 charged forward and landed a fierce uppercut on Gohan, who immediately flew into the air from the impact. She formed a massive ball of blue ki and fired it at Gohan, whose body took the full impact before landing in the ocean. After 30 seconds, he shot back out of the water and smiled.

"You have 9 minutes remaining."

Gohan received her next assault right away. He was hit by jabs to his stomach, more uppercuts to his face, and a series of kicks knocking his head around. 18 got tired of hand-to-hand combat and started firing ki blasts at a rapid rate. Her opponent let each one hit him without any attempt – or intention – to block them.

"STOP TOYING WITH ME!" 18 yelled as she kept firing blasts. It came as no surprise to her when Gohan appeared in front of her.

"What an ironic twist of fate. I could never imagine you of all people yelling that. Oh, and you have 5 more minutes"

18 let out a battle cry and restarted her offensive.

"So where's Krillin off to?" Gohan said as he was minimizing his defense as much as possible.

"He's…in town…with the ….pig….and….the old…man" a furious 18 yelled through gasps of air.

"Good…maybe he left you" Gohan struck a nerve with that comment.

"Why…how dare…you!"

_Good. Now I've got her all worked up._ Gohan smiled.

18 retreated a few feet. "Don't you **ever** talk about Krillin like that!" She promptly powered up a ball of blue ki twice as big as the first one she had used and threw it straight at the half-saiyan. For a brief moment, she could see the taunting look on his face and he could see the enraged expression on hers.

The ki forced Gohan into the ocean, and eventually exploded.

After what seemed like an eternity to 18, Gohan rose out of the water. His cape had been nearly obliterated by the blast, and he had an open wound on the center of his forehead. Somehow, he still had the ability to laugh it off.

"I must say, that last attack actually did some damage." He threw off the remnants of his cape and let it drop like a stone into the icy blue water beneath him. "However, this is where the real fun begins. Your time is up; if that last attack contained all of your rage then I think today's beating—or should I say, _lesson_, will be rather short."

And with that, he powered up to Super Saiyan. "I'm not going to waste my energy like last time. I think this should be more than enough to teach you."

"Teach me…what?" 18 had a strong sense of foreboding as she said this.

"To teach you that it doesn't matter what universe you live in, you can't mess with me or my friends and get away with it."

The next 5 minutes were 18's most painful moments in her life, physically and mentally.

Gohan disappeared and returned behind 18 and tapped her on the shoulder. Knowing that dodging would be useless and expecting the worst, she turned around.

"Hi there!" Gohan delivered a sharp blow to 18's face that sent her flying through the air, and then disappeared.

When 18 finally regained control of her body, she searched for his life force. For several seconds she thought –no, p_rayed_ – he had vanished. Then-

"Up here you stupid blonde!"

Slowly she craned her neck upwards to see the fake blonde hovering right above her. As her fearful eyes met those green orbs, she felt a foot strike her gut that made her cough up blood.

Gohan took this moment to grab her by the skull.

"You're no fun; I can't even use a third of my strength without running the risk of destroying your circuitry." After powering up with her cranium still in his left hand, he grabbed her feet with his right hand and then raised her over his head.

"So do you think you've learned enough for today?"

"You…filthy mutt" 18 whimpered.

"What's that? You want some MORE? OK, HERE GOES" Gohan brought her back on top of his head. He started to pull her head and feet in towards his neck. As he continued to do this while pushing his head into her back, she let out a long yell of excruciating pain.

"Yes…that's it…feel the pain that you caused so many others." After another 15 seconds, he realized it was useless. _Damn, I can't go any further without snapping her into two. _Slowly, he pushed her back to her natural position and then let her go.

"I'll ask again: Do you think we've learned enough today?"

"Y-yes. Now get lost before anyone else sees us." Gohan was enjoying every moment of this. Her face was bloodied and beaten and her pride was crushed. _Now if only I could do this to Vegeta…. _But something stopped Gohan from thinking anymore along that train of thought. His Saiyan heritage prevented him from feeling hatred towards the Prince. No, he hated artificial humans more than anyone (or anything) else. Nothing could beat this moment; in fact he was even thinking of going for round 2.

"You should show some more respect towards Krillin. He's the only reason you still exist."

"Gohan that's enough! Stop this right now!"

The young Super Saiyan knew that voice all too well and immediately powered down.

"We were done anyway, Piccolo. At least until tomorrow." Gohan smirked at the cyborg.

"NO! No tomorrow! Your fights are with people closer to you in ability now. You have to control your anger Gohan. How do you think I felt all the time when I saw the same person kill ME?"

The last remark hit home with Gohan. "You're right, you should be angrier than me. If I hadn't gone Super Saiyan 3 things might have been different." The look of realization suddenly left his face. "But until my anger burns out, I still need to return the suffering. Once I find the woman's brother…"

18 didn't know whether to be relieved that Piccolo had stepped in and ended the massacre or to be embarrassed that she was now regarded as such a low level fighter. Nevertheless, it was her turn to speak. "He lives in the forests to the east, but I'm not telling you where, you…monster."

"Thanks…tin can. That's all the information I need." and Gohan disappeared.

"I don't understand…he was as nice a boy as there came…and now he wants to destroy everyone…"

"It's that Super Saiyan 3 that's messing with his mind. He should get over his anger soon…although I have to admit after watch you 'kill' me so effortlessly I don't think I can look at your face without being reminded either…" Piccolo vanished as well, hoping that he had told 18 the truth.


	11. Blast From The Past

A/N: Sorry it's been so long, but I've been busy with SATs (only a 2270! DARN/end sarcasm). I realized my chapters have been way too short, so here's a nice long chap, hopefully the rest are longer. This would have been a "30 chapter epic" if I continued the way I was going, but I guess it will probably run to about chapter 20 or so…not sure yet.

Disclaimer: I'm getting nervous seeing other people put this in every single chapter, so I might as well say I don't own DBZ.

After several hours of searching for the undetectable cyborg, Gohan finally lost his urge to destroy and headed back to the mountains where he and Piccolo trained. Several thoughts ran through the demi-Saiyan's head. _I wonder what life would be like in 10 years if I continued to listen to that harpy…there's only one way to find out…ahh, I'm starting to sound like Vegeta…and why am I flying?_ Lost in his thoughts, Gohan had momentarily forgotten his favorite method of transportation. He locked onto Piccolo's ki and re-appeared in front of the Namekian warrior.

"Care to join me in another trip to another universe, Piccolo?"

"Uhh…no thanks Gohan, not this time"

Having remembered Piccolo's superior hearing and the loud screams accompanying inter-dimensional travel, Gohan let out a hearty laugh. "Well, I guess I'll see ya soon."

"Don't hurt yourself now," remarked Piccolo, who was still in his meditative position.

"As if I would." And with a smirk, Gohan disappeared to a location three hundred miles away.

When he finally touched down on the earth, Gohan immediately searched for nearby ki's. He noticed that to his far west, Vegeta's ki was larger now, and the Prince was now almost as powerful as him..._only a half instead of a tenth as strong._ Gohan smiled inwardly. Trunks' ki was exponentially greater, but he was only a toddler when Gohan had last seen him. As he was about to lock onto Piccolo's ki and meet with his slightly aged friend, the teen noticed three different ki's from the northeast…in the direction of his old home.

It can't be…can it? And without another thought he transported himself to Mt. Paozu. To his shock and horror, he saw a nearby house with a nearly identical build to the one he was used to. This house, however, was larger and had a bluish tinge and a magenta colored top. A hedge outlined the perimeter of its law, and a pair of swinging doors marked the entrance. Deciding to search for the ki he had not felt in several years, Gohan turned back to the other house. Deciding to act politely, he knocked three times and waited.

"Hi there…Gohan?" the woman who opened the door froze in shock at the sight of a younger version of her son.

_I'm not in the mood for this hag's stuttering, might as well make something up._ "Sorry, I think you have me mistaken for someone else, my name's…..Bassoon." _Great, what a stupid name._

"What brings you all the way out here?"

_What the hell, more questions? _Gohan struggled to think of an excuse. "Um…I…uh…was hiking and realized I had to relieve myself when I saw this house…do you mid if I come in?"

"As long as you leave right away." the woman responded, a hint of danger in her eyes.

"No problem Chi-Chi," he replied, walking past her and into the rest of the house, which had changed little after all those years.

"How do you know my name? And just where do you think you're going?! The bathroom's the other way!"

Slowly but surely, the anger started to build. Dropping his act, Gohan turned around. "I know more about you than you think. I know he's here, and I'll find him." But before he could move 2 steps he felt the familiar metal headed straight for his head. "WHO ARE YOU TO BARGE INTO MY HOUSE LIKE THAT?!" she screamed as the frying pan was about to make contact with scalp. At the last moment an arm shot out to block the pan. "I've had enough with that stupid pan. This is your favorite I assume…for beating people with? Say good bye to it you stupid woman." And with that he grabbed the handle with the other hand and seized it from Chi-Chi's firm grip and jabbed it into her stomach so as to make her pass out. _Glad that's over with…_

"Hey Chi-Chi, who you yellin' at?" came a voice from the kitchen. "Hello? Chi-Chi?" the voice came closer to Gohan and then suddenly a tall figure with gravity-defying hair and a blue and green training gi came into Gohan's view.

"Go…Gohan?" The 15 year old smirked "So it really is you, Goku."

"Is that you? Don't tell me one of Bulma's inventions did this to you?! When will it get fixed? Why did you call me Goku? What did you do to Chi – "

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!" Gohan screamed at the man in front of him. "She's just knocked out so I could speak to you. I'm not the Gohan you know or love, I'm from a different universe. That concept may be a bit hard for you to grasp, but bear with me. I have knocked your wife out in order to ask how…and why….you're alive."

Goku blinked in confusion and a smile came to his face. "Oh yeah! You're not from this time so you wouldn't know what happened." Gohan sweatdropped at this comment. _Looks like the afterlife turned him into a bigger idiot than I expected._

Goku told the story beginning with how 7 years ago he was granted 24 hours on Earth for his heroic deeds (which Gohan mentally scoffed at) to participate in the world martial arts tournament, but left the tournament to follow the Supreme Kai in tracking down a wizard named Babidi who sought to revive the pink entity known as Majin Buu. He described Vegeta's willingness to succumb to the power of the Majin just for more power and his self-destruction in a failed attempt to destroy Buu. He had to transform into a Super Saiyan 3 to fight Buu, but this only limited his time on Earth. As the monster wrought havoc on the world, his time ended and he watched Buu spit out his evil side, which absorbed him and later the rest of the Z force. Goku was granted his life when elder Kai gave up his own in order to send him back down to Earth; he ultimately fused with Vegeto to fight Buu, but was eventually absorbed as well. After much time in Buu's body, he and Vegeta escaped and landed on the land of the Kais when Earth was destroyed by Buu. It took a spirit bomb containing the energy of all of the Earth's citizens in order to permanently destroy the creature.

As the hour long tale ended, Gohan began to wonder if any of these events would happen in his own timeline.

"So, Gohan….you want something to eat? I was only halfway done when you came in." Mentally sighing, the youth responded, "no you ape, I'm going over to see the other Gohan. He lives in that ugly house to your left, am I correct?"

"Yeah, he does. Hey wait it's not- " Gohan had already left the house.

_  
Forget courtesy_, Gohan thought to himself. _If he is that stupid to get a house like this so close to his 'Mommy', then he's not worth that._

"Hello? Who's there?" Out stepped a middle aged man who was wearing a blue suit with black-rimmed glasses and short, spiky, black hair. "I thought I- what happened to the door? And who are you?!" the man replied in shock.

"What, you can't even recognize yourself?" the teenager asked. His lips curled into a smile. "Hello, Gohan. Care to fight?"

The adult Gohan (A/N: AG Adult Gohan, TG Teen Gohan) was dumbstruck from what he heard. "How did you….?" he asked, still in awe at the sight of a younger him.

TG smiled. "Do what? Oh travel into this universe? It's simple really. You just have to know how to use your ki."

AG cupped his chin with his palm "It sounds unreasonable, but I suppose that's because even the top physicists can't fully work out the intricacies of nonintertial frames of ref-"

"Shut up, I didn't come to hear your physics jargon…especially since I know what you're talking about and you're trying to make me feel stupid."

AG looked back at his teen self, still not sure of what to say. "Ok…uh….then what _are_ you here for?"

"Just checking up on things, and from the looks of it you've become a nerd and you've even married someone at that I'll bet…"

"Gohan? Who's there?" Within seconds, TG saw an adult Videl Satan.

"You married HER?! The daughter of that fraud? Wow, I thought I would get smarter in ten years…but I suppose it's this damn timeline that's so messed up."

AG and Videl glared daggers at TG. "You have no right to talk that way about my father," the raven haired woman said, her anger rising with every moment TG spent smirking at the couple.

"Or what? You'll set your husband on me?" TG let out a long, humorless laugh that ended when he heard a faint crying noise. "The hell…you have a child too?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes, her name is Pan and she's beautiful, just like her mother," replied AG, smiling at and then kissing his wife.

TG had had enough. "Cut the crap, I'm disappointed that you fell victim to such a weak emotion as love," TG winced and added "and I resent the fact that you made me sound like the Porcelain Prince of all Idiots just now. I'll not wait another second, I want to test your abilities and see whether your Mystic power-up is too much for me."

AG's eyes widened at the last part. "How do you know about my training with Elder Kai?"

"Simple," TG responded. "I asked the ape next door." This statement had its intended effect on AG, whose ki started to rise dramatically. "I don't care what stupid choices you made in your timeline, but never insult my father like that."

TG questioningly raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? What are you gonna do about it? You can't beat me in a fight…" TG looked down and then met AG's eyes once again. "…Or can you?"

AG took the moment to laugh. "Of course I can, even Dad admitted that I am more powerful than he was as a super saiyan 3. But, I'll humor you. Meet me in the backyard in 5 minutes, I'm going to dress in something that you'll remember when you get your ass handed to you." _And it might even return your respect for father,_ AG added as an after thought.

5 minutes later, AG arrived dressed in the same gi that both Gohans were so used to, with Dark orange pants and vest with King Kai's symbol on the back, a navy blue undershirt, and the all-too-familiar boots. "You know, I was actually thinking of sparing you some pain before," TG said. "Oh well…now you see me, now you don't." TG phased out of sight.

_I can't sense him, don't tell me he…no, that's not possible, only one person can do that- _AG's thoughts were cut off by a sharp kick to the back that sent him flying into the forest, knocking over an entire row of trees for a good three hundred yards.

"Oooh it seems someone is a bit surprised," TG said, desperately trying to suppress a roar of laughter. "Goku's not the only one who can do Instant Transmission ya know." AG heard this last statement as he was picking himself out from under the timber. "Show me your true power, or else you can say goodbye to your family." TG looked straight at his adult counterpart, grinning evilly while sticking his hand out behind his back to prepare a ki blast readying itself to obliterate both houses.

AG let out a battle cry and started to power up to the max. "Don't even think about it!" TG felt the ki emanating from the Mystic warrior and chuckled. "Looks like you came to your senses." He promptly powered up to Super Saiyan 2. "You better be finished, because I won't wait another second on you." He disappeared once again, only to appear above AG, kicking him in the neck with a force that sent him crashing into the ground and creating a gaping crater where the mass of fallen trees once stood. Not wasting a second, the 15 year old entered the bottom of the pit and grabbed the man by his ankle, spinning him around and then throwing him straight up into the air, following and launching his other self with a barrage of melee attacks.

"Come on, don't tell me you're letting me win." To show his disgust, he performed a roundhouse kick on AG's face, who flew so far away that he began to blend in with the horizon.

AG finally regained his senses and abruptly stopped his free fall a half mile away from where he had been kicked. He finished powering up and then started to charge at the malevolent youth. "So I see you're finally ready." TG put his guard up, only to see his defenses get broken through by the powerful Mystic's attacks. _Wow, I'm actually losing…looks like I'll have to go all out on this one._ After letting himself get knocked into the ground TG recovered to speak to his opponent. "I must say you've surprised me, but this is where YOU LOSE!"

Deep fissures appeared in the Earth below his feet while sharp bolts of lightning descended from the heavens. Several trees collapsed from the massive earthquake, while others caught on fire from the searing jolts of electricity. TG separated himself from the rest of the world with a brilliant golden aura, and after a minute of throat-wrenching yelling, the violent weather ended just as quickly as it started.

AG's eyes widened with shock. "But…no way, it can't-" he barely had time to react to the sharp kick to his jaw before two fists closed down on either side of his head, twisting it this way and that. TG heard the sickening crack of neck bones and laughed menacingly as he resumed kicking the other man's face with full intensity. Upon stopping momentarily and seeing the fully grown adult spew massive amounts of blood, he declared "this battle is officially over…you're the strongest in this timeline and you can't even lay a finger on me using 50 of my Super Saiyan 3 capabilities." Before knocking him out cold with a chop to the back of the neck, TG took a sensu bean from the bag secured within his sash and forced into AG's mouth. _Even though I can't stand this idiot, killing him would almost seem like suicide, and I have no intentions of killing anyone, least of all a mirror of myself. _Sensing a disturbance in the air, Gohan swung his hand backwards, making contact with a materializing Goku's face, startling the visitor and giving him a bloody nose. "How-"

"How did I do that?" Gohan interrupted. "Don't worry about it. Just be happy that I was kind enough to heal your son for you." And with that he disappeared, leaving an unconscious half-breed and a confused pure-blood behind.


	12. A Startling Proposal

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. By the way, there will be a surprise next chapter…

Drugedgen: LOL It will all make sense soon, but in a way it really won't because from hereon in things are about to get really fucked up and I might have to change the genre.

"Piccolo, watch your left side!" Gohan yelled as he was about to give a roundhouse kick to his best friend. The two had been sparring for nearly 5 hours straight. Surprisingly, it was the young teenager who let himself get knocked down by his opponent.

"You never let yourself get distracted. Is there something wrong?"

"No, but I want to collect the dragonballs again."

"Why?" Gohan told Piccolo he just wanted them collected should they need to make a wish. The Namek agreed, albeit rather reluctantly, to help him.

After 1 hour and 24 minutes, they had collected all seven spheres.

_Yet another record in the books. I love Instant Transmission._

"Eternal dragon! By your name I summon you forth! Shenron!" the half-Saiyan cried. A flash of light bolted from the balls, and within seconds Shenron was waiting.

"…you have two wishes…"

Piccolo was shocked. _What does he plan on doing?_

"Shenron! Again I have only one wish to make for now. I want all the villains I have fought in the past four years be brought back to life!"

"Very well." With the all-too-familiar glow of its red eyes, the dragon said "This will, however, require two wishes. Now I must return to my slumber."

Almost immediately, a couple of familiar faces appeared: Super Android 13, Broly, Bojack, and Perfect Cell

"GOHAN? ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"Don't worry Piccolo, their powers combined are nothing compared to either one of ours. I don't want to fight all of them either."

"Then what is your plan?" Piccolo did not like where this was going.

"You'll see soon enough. Right now, I want you to take care of Cell. I'll get the others."

"You really think that green idiot can beat me? I am the definition of perfection!" Cell proclaimed.

A smile spread on Gohan's lips. "If you're so perfect…then how did I destroy you?"

"You shut up! I will not be defeated twice!" Cell lunged at Gohan, only to stop as the boy's green friend appeared right in front of his face. "Your fight is with me."

"We'll see about –" Cell was cut off by a vicious uppercut, similar to the attack that forced him to cough up Android 18 in the Cell Games. Panting, he said "that's one mistake you'll regret, Namek!"

Piccolo tossed his turban and cape, lunged at Cell, and started a melee with his locust-like opponent.

"Hyaahhhhh!" with a surge of ki Gohan knocked the other three villains back. He made quick work of super 13 and Bojack with powerful kicks to their midsections followed by a Kamehameha wave that destroyed both bodies at once.

He saw that Broly did not try to attack after seeing the other two get obliterated.

"Broly, why haven't you tried to kill me yet?"

"Because your power is amazing…I don't know if I can handle that strength….do I know you?"

"Remember Kakarot? I'm his son." At the very mention of this name, Broly's black hair spiked up and turned yellow-green, while his eyes lost the pupils they once had. "KAKAROT!" he yelled into the sky.

"Relax, he's dead." Broly stopped screaming and looked at Gohan. "Who killed Kakarot?"

"I did," Gohan said. He knew he had to say this, and it wasn't as if he was lying either. If he had finished Cell off when he had the chance, his father would still be alive…

"So he's finally gone at the hands of his son? This is perfect. Now all that's left is to kill you!" the uncontrollable Broly leapt at Gohan, who snapped out of his momentary trance.

"Stop this Broly…I want you to join me." Gohan said as he effortlessly dodged the legendary super saiyan's attacks.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the boy screamed as he grabbed each of Broly's fists, went to Super Saiyan 2, and started to crush each enormous hand.

"Ahhh..let go… LET GO OF ME" Broly cried out.

Gohan didn't loosen up his grip. "First you must agree to pledge loyalty to us, even Piccolo."

"OK OK FINE…JUST MAKE IT STOP!!!"

The young saiyan, apparently satisfied, smirked and let go of Broly, who actually recoiled in fear.

"You've certainly grown stronger since we last fought…fine, I'm in."

Gohan smiled. "Fine, now let's finish off the rest o

Cell was still alive, probably due to the fact that he could regenerate at will, and was in the form that he died in, that is, he was in his Super Perfect Form. He was regenerating again right after Piccolo's Makkanko-Sappo had pierced a hole into his chest. "You pathetic earthlings can't beat me twice!"

"Would you like to do the honors, Broly?"

The Legendary Super Saiyan's milky white eyes looked into his comrade's emerald orbs. "Sure," he smiled. "HAAAAAAAAHHH" He rushed forward with a burst of blinding speed at the Insectoid. Gohan followed shortly thereafter, catching up to Broly a few yards away from Cell. As they flew side by side, their auras combined into one massive yellow burst of energy. Mere inches away, the two saiyans extended their fists, ready to strike.

The blinding flash of light forced Piccolo to shield his eyes. When he dared to look again, his jaw went slack at the sight. Broly and Gohan had cleanly broken through Cell's body, leaving nothing but a motionless head and a pair of legs.

The attack wasn't over, however. Broly started to shoot green ki blasts at Cell's head, while Gohan powered up the same attack that he used to defeat Cell the last time.

"Kame…hame…HA!" The blast obliterated Cell's legs and then cleaned up what was left of his being.

Both Broly and Gohan powered down to their base forms. "We make a great team," Gohan said. "Why don't you train with Piccolo and myself?

"First I need to test myself. How strong are you really?"

Gohan chuckled. "Pretty strong. What, you want me to max out on you?"

"Sure, I need a benchmark to surpass." The harmless-looking Saiyan joked.

"Ok. I'll go through each transformation." Gohan powered up to Super Saiyan, then to Super Saiyan 2. "Very little difference I know, but you're gonna love this next part."

Gohan went through the screaming in a lot shorter time than last time since his body could tolerate the flux of energy he was generating. After about 30 seconds, his hair had grown to knee length, his eyebrows had been tucked in, and his eyes had changed into distinct black pupils and blue irises.

"What a monstrous ki! And I thought your previous stage was overpowering!" Broly gasped.

"Yeah, this is Super Saiyan 3. It's hard to sustain for more than an hour at a time because it drains so much energy even when you're not even fighting….so, you wanna rumble?" Gohan got into his fighting stance, waiting for his enemy-turned-friend to power up.

"Ok…but try not to kill me."

Gohan smirked. "I've heard that too often to let you down."

Broly powered up to Super Saiyan, and then reached into the depths of his ki to return to his legendary mode. The only norticeable difference – besides an increase in muscle mass, which never affected his speed – was the lack of pupils in his eyes.

_Good, I see you go as crazy as me when you reach your limits, _thought the Super Saiyan 3.

Each warrior let out a battle cry and then lunged for the other. Their right fists struck, producing a thunderclap that could be heard for miles around. Immediately, each warrior vanished. More blows followed by more shockwaves. The two separated for a while to power up.

"Well, I must say that was a good warm-up, Broly. But can you handle this?" Gohan vanished into thin air.

"Damn, where are you?" Broly found his answer in the form of a sharp kick to his back, sending searing amounts of pain to his body.

_Wow, that was one of my stronger hits and he's still breathing. Oh well, time to kick it up a notch._

Broly turned around to face Gohan, only to see his opponent start attacking him with a plethora of kicks and punches. He could only guess where the hits would land, and he was wrong more than half the time.

"C'mon Broly, show me the rage from when you humiliated everyone!" It wasn't working. "Hey…pretend I'm Kakarot." _That should do the trick._

Gohan found that his fists were caught in Broly's hands.

"KAKAROT!" The explosion of anger gave way to the legendary super saiyan's offensive. He grabbed Gohan by his hair and spun him around for a while before slamming him into the ground. Just as he was about to come down with an elbow, the other fighter vanished.

"Ma-" Broly turned his head to see Gohan in the air, charging up a ki blast.

"Senko-" He flew with breakneck speed towards the attack.

"Ha!" The blast bore down on him, but he just continued as if it never hit him.

"What the –" and before he knew it, the long-haired fighter saw a fist slam into his face that sent him crashing into the ground. Just as he was getting up, he was bombarded with ki blasts.

"If that's the way you want it…then fine, no holding back!" Gohan teleported all over the place, which prevented Broly from getting a lock on his ki. Right behind his adversary's back, Gohan used the help of his right arm to jam his left elbow as hard as possible into Broly's neck before cupping his left fist with his right hand and slamming the giant into the ground.

The behemoth slowly powered down to his frail base form. As he laid there, stomach first, he wondered: _I crave that power, but I will never beat him because he'll always be two steps ahead. So be it, I'll train with the son of Kakarot. _He looked up to see Gohan offering his hand to help him up, which he gratefully accepted.

"You put up a great fight Broly. Now let's try to get you to use that power when you're not thinking about you-know-who."


	13. Tournament Redux

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ.

Several thoughts ran through Piccolo's head as Gohan was feeding Broly's saiyan appetite at a city restaurant. _Why did he make that wish? I don't understand it…it must have something to do with his last trip in time; I'll have to ask him about it. _

Several hours later, Gohan returned with a satiated Broly. Evidently, his appetite was greater than Goku and Vegeta's combined desires for food. "So you ready to do some more training?" the dark-haired teen asked. With a nod of approval, Broly flew off some yards and began to stretch and then power up to Super Saiyan.

/Gohan, I need to talk to you about why you made that wish. Think of all the negative energy you've released with such a request./ the Namek was using telepathic communication just in case Broly overheard the conversation.

/It's alright, Piccolo. When I traveled into the other timeline, I decided to even go 15 years ahead of the initial time I chose. I found out that the dragonballs in that timeline had cracked from a buildup of negative energy due to the abuse of too many 'positive wishes.' Apparently, an evil dragon appeared from each dragonball and nearly destroyed the world. Goku merged with Shenron and you are dead from the use of the black star dragonballs. You know anything about them?/

Piccolo froze with horror. /Yes, they were created back when I separated from Kami. Are you saying someone got a hold of them and made a wish?/

/That's exactly what I'm saying, and we can't let any of it happen. This is why the wish I made was the first step towards restoring some positive energy into the dragonballs. It seems there's a whole yin-yang process that dictates the relationship between the nature of a wish and the opposing energy within the balls./

/But why did you let Broly live?/

/Well, I don't mean to disrespect you Piccolo but since Broly is a saiyan he can get stronger in a much shorter time than you. Plus he hates Goku with a passion, which is a positive in my book. The only problem is if he eats at his current rate, I'll be running dangerously low on money in a few years!/

/No offense taken. Not everyone is as disciplined as us./

Gohan chuckled and left to get into a fighting stance against Broly.

/Wait, Gohan./

/Yes…?/

/I was wondering…what am I like in 10 years/ Piccolo cursed himself for asking such a pathetic question.

/Heh, good thing you didn't voice that question. Well, for one you've permanently moved to the Lookout. You're still the same Piccolo I respect, but you have softened a bit, probably because the idiot known as Gohan in that timeline is married and has a kid./

As Gohan and Broly charged at each other, Piccolo spent a few seconds digesting everything that had happened today.

Nearly three and a half years had passed since Broly's revival. Although Gohan always fought with his mentor, it became evident that only Broly could consistently keep up with Gohan's Super Saiyan 3 form.

Gohan was with Broly at one of his favorite restaurants, and making sure to order the buffet for his new ally when a familiar voice popped into his head.

_Hey son, how's it going? _Gohan mentally grimaced and put on the act for the person he once called his father.

_Great father, Goten is really growing up and I've been studying and helping mom around the house as always. _

_That's good to hear, and this time I've actually got great news. King Yemma granted me a day in the physical plane for all my services to protecting the Earth. I'm coming back in a few months for the next World Martial Arts Tournament. _

_Oh awesome stuff, Dad! Mom's gonna be excited to see you again and Goten finally gets to meet you! _

_I know, I can hardly wait! Well I gotta get off the line, King Kai is getting a bit feisty. See you soon son! _

When he was finally sure it was over, Gohan wiped the sweat off of his brow. _Damn, this acting is hard. _

Broly took a few seconds out of his food frenzy to give a concerned look to his friend. "Something troubling you, Gohan?" Deciding that now would not be the best time to arouse Broly's anger, Gohan grinned back. "No, just thinking about how I'm going to wipe the floor with you next time." Amazingly enough this did not elicit any response. _Wow, he must be really hungry, _Gohan mused.

Months passed, and Gohan and Brolly both grew stronger while Piccolo continued to lag behind. It was only expected; as a Namekian warrior he could not hope to surpass a Saiyan who was already far stronger than himself, let alone two of them.

Finally, the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament was at hand. At 9:00 AM Broly, Gohan, and Piccolo made their way to the registration booth to sign in; Gohan had decided to conceal his identity for the time being by wearing a turban until his first fight. After that, they were directed to the line for hitting the punching machine. Broly, however, wanted to walk around for a few minutes to kill some time, so he and Piccolo went off to see what piqued humans' interests.

It seemed that ever since the fall of Mr. Satan, his daughter had risen to the forefront. Gohan had heard about Videl the law enforcer whenever he was in Orange City. Apparently, her crime fighting duties saved her father from complete humiliation; at least he had raised someone with an iota of strength.

The 17 year old girl was the first one to hit the machine, scoring a 124. As she left, Gohan walked directly past her, brushing shoulders with the fighter. Stopping but not turning around, he called out to her.

"Looks like you're in the big leagues now."

Videl had also stopped, but turned around to glare at the back of his head, hands at her hips.

"And just who the hell are you, waltzing in here and acting like you own the place?" she angrily shot back.

"So you don't remember?" he asked. "Ah well, no matter. I'll be sure to jog your memory soon enough," he lazily continued before heading towards the line of participants, thoroughly confusing the other girl.

Next up was a purple-skinned man with a white mohawk. Standing at about the same height as Vegeta, he hit a solid 178. Gohan could only guess that this was the Supreme Kai, as he matched Goku's description of him. His taller companion Kibito hit a 175 and the duo walked off

After a few more incompetent fighters failed to crack 100, he was up next. With a flick of his index finger, he hit 283, shocking the officials more than the previous two fighters' scores did. Heading to the finalists' area, Gohan waited ninety minutes for Broly and Piccolo to come through.

"Those lines are too long," Piccolo muttered. "By the way Gohan," he continued, getting all of the youth's attention. "We saw….everyone else. They should be-"

"Hey Piccolo, long time no see!" an excited voice called out, snapping the trio's eyes wide open. The Namek snapped his head in the direction of its source.

After seven years in the Other World, Son Goku had returned.

A/N: Yeah this was a crappy chapter, I know. It's been over three months since I updated this story because I had been so into Bleach…I promise the next one will be better, and longer too. I can't get out of my 1000 word/chapter mode for DBZ yet, even though my Bleach stories have 3000 - 9000 words/chapter LOL


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